House Music choirs delight their audience

06 Apr 2017

The annual House Music festival is a keenly contested event, with most Houses putting entries in the three separate sections. This year, the event was held in the Assembly Hall, taking place over two evenings to accommodate the large audience of parents and friends who supported the boys.

Overall House choir presentation was won by Julius House with their version of September by Earth, Wind and Fire, conducted by Sam Mackay. Second House choir was Richards House with a traditional South African folksong Shosholoza. Third was Corfe and there was a special mention to Flower’s House.

Somes House scooped the pool, winning the small instrumental ensemble item with Jeremy Lidstone’s arrangement of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. Somes also won the small vocal group category with another Jeremy Lidstone arrangement of All I Want by Kodaline. The House then continued its winning streak taking out the backing award.

Music teacher Nick Sutcliffe says “The music from the House choirs was of an amazingly high standard this year and, in fact, seems to be getting better every year. It was also great to see the boarding houses really getting into the swing of it this year. This high standard reflects the amount of practice put in and the strong support from the seniors.

“The fact that the whole event is student-led is testimony to the high level of musical ability within the school, and we were impressed with the obvious level of commitment House members had shown. It was an excellent showcase of the boys’ creative talents and there was a high level of student-arranged songs and items written by the boys.’’